I have taken a couple Christian apologetics classes. Apologetics is a branch of theology devoted to the defense of the Christian Faith. Defending not just our doctrines (ex: why is salvation by grace alone?) but also defense in comparison to other religions (why do we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and not another prophet like the Islamic faith?). It is a fascinating study; there is a lot of history, scripture and study of other religions involved. In my head, I had little arguments that I was ready to use…until someone knocked on my door.

The later dating of the Gospels revolves around a historical event in Jerusalem. It was in 70 AD that the Romans destroyed the Jerusalem Temple. The Synoptic Gospels include a prediction by Jesus of the destruction of this temple. Since it is impossible for people to predict the future, the Gospels must have been written after the destruction in 70 AD. Some scholars will let Mark be slightly before the event, when it was obvious that something like this would probably be happening.

This article first appeared in the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, volume 40, number 02 (2017). The full text of this article in PDF format can be obtained by clicking here. For further information or to...

Men and women of our day are increasingly given to this idea: the only absolute is that there are no absolutes—the only truth is that there is no truth. The only intolerance is the intolerance of intolerance. All this gives popularity today to the approval of such things as abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, pornography, and all kinds of lewd behavior. It is all traced back to this point of departure: the rejection of the truth… We see it everywhere today. Humanism says man is the truth; pragmatism says whatever works is the truth; pluralism says everyone has a piece of the truth; relativism says each situation determines the truth; mysticism says intuition is the truth; skepticism says no one can know the truth; hedonism says whatever feels good is the truth; existentialism says self-determination is the truth; secularism says this present world is the truth; positivism says whatever man confesses is the truth. This is the world in which we live: the rejection of the truth. — Steven Lawson (from, The Moment of Truth: Its Rejection )

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

The president tweeted: "Turkey has taken advantage of the United States for many years. They are now holding our wonderful Christian Pastor, who I must now ask to represent our Country as a great patriot hostage. We will pay nothing for the release of an innocent man, but we are cutting back on Turkey!"

“If you want to know the truth,” her father once said, “Aretha has never left the church. If you have the ability to feel, and you have the ability to hear, you know that Aretha is still a gospel singer" christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/august…

Join @LeeStrobel and @MarkMittelberg on August 28th at 2pm ET in a simulcast event as they share Nabeel's dramatic journey from Islam to Christianity along with a balanced and accurate assessment of Islam through a special Q&A session. Sign up here: bit.ly/SAFJSimulcast pic.twitter.com/2v84SfhDxa

If someone rejects the Bible’s authority, that person must still contend with the fact that multiple, reliable historical documents make these amazing claims. And based on evidence within the Bible itself, there is no reason to reject those claims. Even most secular historians have come to accept the evidence used in defense of Christ’s Resurrection, though they strive to reach a different conclusion about
its significance.

"The deeper problem is the presence of homosexual networks in the Church — likely in dioceses all over the world and certainly in the Curia. Yes, there are lots of other immoral behaviors — adultery, greed, luxuriousness, clericalism and substance abuse, for instance, that need to be addressed but first things first. Eradicating the homosexual networks from the Church would do a lot to purging the Church of immoral priests — and doing so should help us get at the other problems," she said.

“It is impossible to think of Ethiopia without taking note of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which is both great and sacred,” said Abiy Ahmed at the July 27 ceremony in Washington, reported the Fana state-run news agency"
christianitytoday.com/news/2018/augu…

Craig argues that our moral experience is on par with our physical experience. Our five senses tell us that the physical world is real, that you are really sitting there reading this blog post. In a similar way, your moral senses tell you what is good and what is evil. Now, we can’t get outside of our moral senses to test whether they’re giving us reliable information, but neither can we get outside of our physical senses to test whether they’re giving us reliable information. Should we, therefore, conclude that we can’t know what the physical world is like? Of course not. But then, why should we deny the existence of objective morality because we can’t get outside of our moral perceptions to test their reliability? I’ve noticed that most skeptics, in trying to knock down the epistemological justification of the second premise of the moral argument, they tend to make arguments that would undermine our 5 senses if the same logic was applied to them. For example, some will point out that different people have disagreements on whether a certain action is morally right or wrong (e.

They are. A failure to see (blindness) the burdens (of a racial nature) that they needed help bearing. If I tell my friend tomorrow "I'm sorry I didn't see the trouble you were having in your marriage", are you going to bug me about not using the words "bear your burdens"

Jesus said: "No one is good - except God alone." Therefore Ian fortunately if its not our goodness that motivates our kind acts to vulnerable humans even you & I who may follow unorganized religion can make a difference, & find Jesus is right there in the mess with the broken.

Two years ago, the University of Miami established the Appignani Foundation Chair for the Study of Atheism, Humanism, and Secular Ethics. It is the first of its kind, filled this year by a former “professor of metaphysics and the philosophy of science at the University of Notre Dame.” Louis J. Appignani funded the position with a 2.2-million-dollar endowment, hoping to “legitimize the word ‘atheism’” in the public sphere by creating a foundation whose “founding principle asserts that the planet will only survive if ‘non-acceptance promoted by faith-based ideology’ is replaced by ‘rational scientific reasoning.’” The creation of this foundation, however, only confirms the existence of the God it seeks to replace.

"Singing from somewhere deep inside the pain, Franklin tapped into the #gospel music of Jackson and Ward, into the sanctified sermons of her father, into a lifelong belief in 1 Lord, 1 faith, 1 baptism, & came out triumphant & redeemed on the other side." christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/august…

Paul charges Timothy to “guard the good deposit” (2 Tim. 1:14), which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We’re to remain vigilant in guarding the gospel because both the Scriptures and also church history remind us that many have swerved from the truth. Even a cursory reading of the New Testament reveals that upholding the truth and the purity of the gospel has been a challenge from the beginning. We aren’t facing anything new in our day, and we have the promise that the church of Jesus Christ will triumph over “the gates of Hades” (Matt. 16:18).
In this article I want to briefly consider threats to the gospel—from the left and from the right.
Dangers from the Left
Paul’s speech to the Ephesian elders is the only speech in Acts addressed to Christians (Acts 20:17–35), and it’s significant that it’s addressed to leaders, to the elders and overseers in the church (Acts 20:17, 28). Paul warns them in the strongest terms about the danger of false teaching:
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

The #MeToo Movement will be one of the historic markers of 2018. Its impact is felt in the entertainment industry, in politics, in businesses and, undoubtedly, in churches. While we have yet to understand fully the impact in local churches, we can anticipate changes that will come.

First, we need to know what qualifies as an "extraordinary claim"? When challenging a claim based on how extraordinary it is, we need to ask why this claim is considered extraordinary. What makes a claim "extraordinary"? Where some claims "extraordinary" in the past but not "extraordinary" now? Are some claims "extraordinary" in some cultures, but not so in others? Extraordinary in comparison to what? In my experience, most individuals who make this claim seem to imply that anything that does not line up with the philosophy of naturalism is "extraordinary." The naturalists who hold to this view apparently do not realize that, if this is a presupposition to any claim they make, they have begged the question and committed a logical fallacy. Yet by this standard, any worldview could claim that anything contrary to its own presuppositions are "extraordinary." Without a solid definition of what counts as an "extraordinary claim," this becomes an almost meaningless statement.

Right, we don’t know everything. That doesn’t change anything I’ve said, it seems. If someone punches you in the face, the immediate result is pain. Whether there is a long term point/value/benefit remain to be see. None of that changes the conclusion that, as far as we can tell at the time, the punch was not justified, but unkind. Likewise, the Holocaust did great harm. Hitler was greatly unloving. As far as we can tell, there are many negatives to it, but not many positives that show that it is for the greater good/justified. Our current assessment should be that it was unjustified. If we learn more later, we might change that assessment. That’s how we do all things: judge as we go, modify our judgments as we learn new things. Some evils are due to free will, and some are not. Yes, humans do mean things sometimes. And sometimes, they are so mean, that kind, loving humans try to stop them, even if that means ruining that person’s free will. Free will, while pretty important, is not always so important that it is for the greater good to never interfere with it. So yes, a loving god would let us have some free will, but it doesn’t follow that a loving god would never interfere with it.

The Cold-Case Christianity Podcast is hosted by J. Warner Wallace, cold-case detective, Adjunct Professor of Apologetics at Biola University and author of Cold-Case Christianity (A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels). Jim examines the case for the Christian Worldview from an investigative, evidential perspective. With the rules of evidence clearly in mind and over 25 years’ experience as an investigator, Jim examines the case for the existence of God, the reality of dualism, the reliability of the Biblical text, and the deity of Jesus. Join us each week as Jim sorts through the evidence for the Christian Worldview, and please visit our website at www.ColdCaseChristianity.com.

Marriage wasn’t an optional, incidental arrangement in God’s agenda. It was right there at the center, tying together the two most significant characters in this new and epic story. For sure, sin has broken and marred what was good and pure about that first marriage. But Paul says — quoting Genesis 2 — that from the very beginning, the mystery of marriage is that it’s meant to represent Jesus’s relationship with the church (Ephesians 5:32). This means sin wasn’t a surprise in God’s design for marriage. Rather, it tragically, but beautifully, served to fulfill God’s good design. Marriages today, though flawed, are still carrying out, though imperfectly, the glorious purposes God gave them in the Garden.

The kitchen table was strewn with torn pages of notebook paper full of fractions and scribbles. Broken pencils, chewed-up erasers, and empty soda bottles were surrounded by crumpled snack wrappers; a low moan underscored it all. Had I stumbled upon a crime scene? No. I had stumbled upon my son amid the detritus of high-school geometry.
Elbows on the table, blonde hair flopped between his hands, he said, “Argh! I don’t understand this! It’s impossible!” He explained what the problem was, showed me how he’d tried to solve it, told me why his answers didn’t work, and beseeched me with his bright blue eyes. The boy needed help. Unfortunately for him, he had come to the wrong place.
You see, I can cook a delicious meal, cultivate a thriving garden, even sew on buttons and hem up pants. But don’t ask me to help you with your geometry homework. I don’t get it. I didn’t understand it in high school, and I certainly don’t understand it now.
And this is the first lesson in how to answer theological questions, whether it’s your kids asking or your next-door neighbor: You can’t answer what you don’t know.

Do you feel like you are fighting a losing battle for the hearts and minds of your kids?
Something has changed. We all sense it. The cultural pressure is increasing, especially on our kids. But even in a world of ever-present screens, gender-identity questions, and addictions, kids can have clarity and confidence. We must help them and there's nobody better in this important subject than Brett Kunkle founder of MAVEN. In this interview Frank and Brett talk about his latest book A Practical Guide to Culture: Helping the Next Generation Navigate Today's World. Where he explores questions such as:
- What unseen undercurrents are shaping twenty-first-century youth culture?
- Why do so many kids struggle with identity?
- How do we talk to kids about LGBT issues?
- How can we steer kids away from substance abuse and other addictions?
- How can we ground students in the biblical story and empower them to change the world?
and more! Don't miss it!

Commentator Ben Shapiro asserts many powerful truths through his media empire. Christians can delight in much of what Shapiro maintains, yet he has argued for ideas that are illogical and false. In this compelling lecture, prolific author Mike Robinson discusses Shapiro's fine contentions as well as his incorrect ideas. Check out Robinson's book 'Defeating Relativism and Self-Refuting Statements' on Amazon at amzn.to/2EF4B2R

We're excited to release the full video of Dr. Craig's debate with Erik Wielenberg that took place at North Carolina State University. This NEW, edited version includes the approximately 180 presentation slides used during the debate #Apologetics
buff.ly/2BkRw2f pic.twitter.com/EUVVWYyohf

Fighting For Life: Texas Teenager with life-threatening cancer asks Governor Greg Abbott to end abortion. Jeremiah Thomas views his cancer as an opportunity to preach Jesus and the message of life to people who might not otherwise listen. bit.ly/2vQLqBP pic.twitter.com/MIxIFOR1zW

Even when Christians agree . . . with what the Bible teaches. . . they aren’t sure why they think something is right or wrong or where they should go in the Bible to find out about it. crossway.org/articles/why-c…

“As to the eating of food offered to idols [or you could say ‘bowing before Buddhist priests’] we know that ‘an idol [or a Buddhist priest and what he represents] has no real existence’ [that is, what he stands for has no real existence] and that ‘there is no God but one.’ . . . However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols [or with Buddhist temples and priests] eat food as really offered to an idol [that is, bow as really honoring what those priests stand for] and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.” (1 Corinthians 8:4, 7)

In Hamilton , despite Alexander’s sincere attempts to stay away from public life, Alexander’s life is cut short when he dies in a duel with the infamous Aaron Burr, the grandson of Jonathan Edwards. Eyewitnesses to the duel have noted that Alexander shot up in the air to express his desire for reconciliation with Burr. But Burr, the grandson of a preacher who spoke so powerfully of the beauty of forgiveness in Christ, did not reciprocate. Yet as if to quell any doubt concerning the sincerity of his faith, Alexander declares on his deathbed: “I have tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus.”